TheMReport

28 | TH E M REP O RT THIRTY-FIVE UNDER 35 Special Section Nicole B. Ehrbar GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS ASSOCIATE, QUICKEN AGE: 35 Ehrbar provides Quicken with a seat at the table of power. As an advocate for the corporation, Nicole has her finger on the pulse of Washington, D.C. to help shape Quicken Loans' position and priorities on relevant legislation and reg- ulation. She has knowledge of both the legislative and regulatory process on a variety of issues, including the new financial services landscape and the begin- ning of the Dodd-Frank era of implementation. The experience she earned at the Michigan state delega- tion level shaped her ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with policymakers, industry leaders, and other opinion leaders to further of the company's objectives. Samantha Sue Friedman SVP OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & CLIENT SERVICES, HOPE LOANPORT AGE: 30 Technology drives Saman- tha almost as much as she drives technology. She studied communications and business at George Washington University, and she began her own tech consultancy and implement- ed loss mitigation software for Radian Guaranty by the age of 25. Samantha's current company is the nonprofit Hope LoanPort, developed out of Washing- ton, D.C.-based Hope Now Alliance, which attempts to improve the mortgage industry for all involved. Its current web portals help 19 different servicers, 1,500 housing counselors, hundreds of attorneys, and countless homeowners per- form transactions and track their documents. Dena Jalbert SVP, ADMINISTRATION OPERATIONS, DIGITAL RISK AGE: 35 Every good organization needs a backbone, someone to make sure that things get done so that it can operate the way it was intended to. As SVP of administration operations at Digital Risk, Dena oversees all of the corporation's administrative, back-of- the-house operations. She has to be constantly adaptable because the industry is constantly changing. Her creativity, collaborative skills, ability to recognize where the industry is going, and knowledge to best serve her constituency all distinguish her as a standout performer. Zan James COO, VALUATION VISION AGE: 34 Zan James is an entrepreneur. After spending several years in the industry and working her way up she and a few others took it upon themselves to form Valuation Vision. As the COO, she oversees the full breadth of company functions to maximize revenue for the company. Her ability to adapt to new challenges and learn quickly allow her to assimilate to new roles seamlessly. She recognizes that the mentorship she received paved the way for her success and she takes the role of being a mentor to others very seriously. Katie Jo "KJ" Keeling MANAGING PARTNER, FORECLOSURE PRACTICE AREA, MCCARTHY & HOLTHUS, LLP AGE: 31 KJ is not interested in doing something if she can't be the best at it. This sentiment echoes in her top-of-the-class ratings from law school, the Series 7, the Series 66, and her pending acceptance into a second state bar association. (She cleared the hurdles; now it's just a matter of paperwork.) In line with her motto, she became the most knowledgeable person in her office on the disposition of assets when a commercial bank client of her firm entered receivership in 2009. KJ has worked in default servicing ever since. "Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes'; They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.'" —CLARE BOOTHE LUCE, EDITOR, DIPLOMAT, JOURNALIST, POLITICIAN Ramie Word VP - FORECLOSURE AT NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE AGE: 35 Ramie entered the industry in 2001 handling loss mitigation and asset recovery at Beal Bank while attending SMU in Dallas, Texas. She joined Nationstar Mortgage in 2004 in the REO division and quickly rose through management, and was recently promoted to VP of Foreclosure in 2009.

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